India hopeful of strong bids at 3G auction: official

A customer examines his new Apple iPhone 3G at Telcel Center in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata August 21, 2008.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is hopeful an auction for third-generation (3G) radio waves next month will draw in bids at a "few times" the reserve price of 20.20 billion rupees ($415 million), a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The global financial crisis will not affect the auction for 3G services, said R. Ashok, member (finance) at India's telecom commission, the apex government body for the sector.

India will conduct a global auction for 3G wireless spectrum starting January 16 and has set the reserve price for spectrum in all the service areas.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)